For almost a decade boiler manufactures and operators have been waiting for the federal government to determine what must be done to meet stricter emission standards for toxic air pollutants. As published recently by Power Engineering, industry officials now say the new standards won’t be unveiled until November to December and the EPA’s revised Boiler MACT rule remains under review by the Office of Budget Management’s regulatory affairs division.
The final rule establishes national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (Mercury, PM, hydrogen chloride and carbon monoxide) for industrial, commercial and institutional boilers. It applies to major sources that emit 10 or more tons a year of any single pollutant of 25 tons or more a year of any combination. It will also require annual boiler tune-ups in some instances. In total, the EPA estimates the cost of adding new controls will exceed $5 billion and some sources indicated that it would force power producers to retire about 4.7 GW of coal-fired capacity, due to high compliance costs.
Once the revised rule is finalized, boilers owners and operators will have three years to comply. This is in addition to other existing clean-air rules the industry has to comply with. However, despite the unique challenges the industry may face, boiler manufactures and associated suppliers are ready to tackle future compliance challenges. Overall, the boiler industry has the technology and know-how available to provide immediate solutions.
“We can only hope that OMB is doing more toward achieving compromises and consensus than just sitting on its hands for political purposes,” explains Randy Rawson, ABMA President and CEO.
Boiler Blog | Nationwide Boiler Inc.
On December 20, 2012, the EPA finalized the Boiler MACT, a specific set of adjustments to existing Clean Air Act standards, for boilers and certain solid waste incinerators. These adjustments set standards to cut emissions of hazardous air pollutants, such as mercury, dioxin, and lead, from large boilers in a range of industrial facilities and institutions.
The DOE will offer technical assistance to affected sites currently burning coal or oil, highlighting strategies such as natural gas combined heat and power (CHP), and more efficient boilers, to cut harmful pollution and reduce operational costs. DOE will also provide site-specific technical and cost information to the major source facilities currently burning coal or oil through its regional Clean Energy Application Centers (CEACs).
The CEACs will visit these facilities to discuss strategies for compliance, including CHP, as well as provide information on potential funding and financing opportunities available for CHP, controls, boilers and energy efficiency assessments. Facilities that make use of this technical assistance can potentially develop strategies to comply with the regulations while adding to their bottom line.
Contact Nationwide Boiler today to discuss how we can help you come up with a solution that will cut emissions in your facility. Call: 1-800-227-1966.
Information on financial incentives available at the local, state, utility and federal levels to assist facilities with the costs of investing in CHP, boiler tune-ups, controls and/or energy efficiency assessments is available at:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/states/pdfs/incentives_boiler_mact.pdf
Information about the rule, including links to the regulatory dockets, technical information on how the limits were developed, and impact assessments, is available at:
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/combustion/actions.html
As much as we sometimes wish they would just go away, compliance regulations are here to stay. Overall, regulations are put into place by local governing agencies for the health and safety of the public, environment and plant operations. These are all items which we agree must be top priority. However, the most difficult part of regulations is interpreting, comprehending, and staying current with new rules, revisions, and updates. Combine that with the fact that the applicability of regulations can also be daunting -- things just get harder and harder.
When it comes to NOx compliance, Nationwide Boiler has you covered. We have helped hundreds if not thousands of customers meet both local and national NOx compliance regulations ever since the Clean Air Act passed in the 1980’s. Our boiler rental fleet is equipped with the most advanced burners the industry has to offer and our new and reconditioned boilers all include energy efficiency upgrade options and CataStak™ SCR System component add-ons, proven to reduce NOx to levels as low as 5 ppm.
Our most recent compliance success story is a project we recently completed with NRG Energy Center San Francisco. Nationwide Boiler provided a single Ammonia-Free CataStak™ SCR System for two 55,000 lb/hr natural gas-fired boilers that were required to operate at 9 ppm NOx levels as governed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).
Read more about this project and how it demonstrated a simple method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions without the use of a standard ammonia-based SCR in the fall edition of Today’s Boiler.
If you need help keeping up with compliance's, call us today at 510-490-7100. We can help.
Did you know that Nationwide Boiler's CataStak SCR system can reduce NOx emissions by as much as 99%? Recent source test results from a rental customer in the Central Valley of California prove just that!
Nationwide Boiler is currently renting a 70,000 lb/hr trailer-mounted package watertube boiler and CataStak SCR system to a tomato processing facility with strict emission limits of 5 ppm NOx. The source test was performed under normal season loads, in several 30 minute runs, and tested for NOx, CO and ammonia slip. Results show that the system emitted only 0.7 ppm NOx with 0.39 ppm ammonia slip! In addition to the superior NOx control that our system provides, low ammonia slip illustrates the effectiveness of our design related to the mixing of ammonia and NOx prior to the catalyst.
We are proud that our system can produce such extraordinary results and reduce our customer's emissions to meet the stringent and ever-changing air requirements. For more information, read our latest press release!